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After handling the enrollment procedures for Li Showan, George turned to Showan's new homeroom teacher and said:
"Mr. Terada, please take good care of Showan."
"Please, Mr. George, you're too kind!"
Mr. Terada quickly bowed deeply.
The elderly man before him was well over ninety, a true elder.
George nodded and exchanged a few words with Showan before leaving the school, teleporting back to his villa.
There were some advantages to aging; at least when polite people saw him, they would always offer a bow.
Around 2:00 PM, as George was immersed in studying Taoist arts, he was suddenly startled by the sound of thunder from outside the window.
"This thunder sounds off. It doesn't seem like a normal storm!"
Approaching the window, he could clearly sense an unusual surge of magic in the clouds above the town.
"Could it be the Thunder Card?"
He immediately had a hunch.
"If it's the Thunder Card, I might as well go grab it."
The other Clow Cards would take more time to study because he hadn't fully researched the Li family's Taoist arts yet, so studying them would take longer. They could wait for now.
But the Thunder Card was an exception.
Since he had already delved into the essence of lightning, the Li family's lightning arts would not be hard for him to learn. Within just a few days, he could likely master them completely.
That would grant him the ability to study the Thunder Card.
If the Thunder Card indeed contained the world's interpretation of lightning's essence, then fully understanding the card would certainly deepen his grasp of lightning's true nature.
Improving his control over lightning's essence wouldn't just enhance the power of all his lightning-based spells—it would also accelerate his advancement from a Level 5 to a Level 6 ability user.
"It's after school, so this is perfect!"
At that moment, he saw Li Showan, already arriving at the villa entrance with his school bag on his back.
In this town, primary school ended early, usually by 2:00 PM, with little to no extracurricular activities.
With a flash, George appeared beside Showan.
"Ancestor?"
Startled by George's sudden appearance, Li Showan jumped in surprise.
"The thunderclouds in the sky seem strange. It might be a Clow Card. Let's go take a look."
George scooped up Li Showan and spread his wings, swiftly flying toward the spot in the clouds where the magical energy was most active.
"A Clow Card!"
Showan immediately perked up at the mention of a Clow Card.
He even forgot to ask why George was flying—he figured it was because George had reached enlightenment and gained the ability to fly.
But... why wings? It shouldn't be flying on clouds. Wasn't that how it was supposed to work?
That didn't matter, though. The important thing was to capture the Clow Card first.
"It's the Thunder Card!"
As they reached the clouds, Li Showan immediately recognized the lightning beast unleashing bolts of thunder—it was the Thunder Card from the Clow Cards.
The lightning beast, noticing George and Li Showan, grew increasingly agitated and immediately launched a bolt of lightning toward them.
"Looks like a Clow Card without Kurolydo's power isn't that formidable after all."
As the lightning struck toward him, George showed no fear. He could feel that the intensity of this lightning was nowhere near as powerful as the lightning from his own superpower.
Clow Cards are magical cards that embody the essence of magic in this world, but to unleash their full potential, one must inject sufficient magical energy into them.
It's like having a high-tech energy gun capable of destroying an entire planet with a single shot—but to use its power, you need to see how much energy you can pour into it.
If you don't feed it much energy, it can only destroy small rocks. If you fill it with energy, it could obliterate a whole planet.
Right now, the Thunder Card was only using the tiny bit of magic left behind by Kurolydo's death, so its power was limited.
He suspected this was something Kurolydo had done intentionally.
By leaving behind a small amount of magic, the Thunder Card's power was reduced, allowing Sakura to capture it. If more magic had been left, there would have been no way for Sakura to handle it.
Moreover, the Clow Cards have the ability to absorb and adjust the excessive magical power within Sakura's body. If there's too much magic left in the card, it won't absorb any more from Sakura.
"Hmm, they're here too."
Just then, George noticed something else.
He saw that Sakura and Tomoyo were passing by the park directly beneath them. Hearing the thunder above, they assumed it was going to rain and sought shelter under the park's penguin slide.
A quick thought crossed his mind, and he changed his approach.
Rather than simply swatting away the lightning bolt from the thunder beast, George began dodging the thunderbolt by weaving left and right through the air.
"Showan, I'll hold it off. You figure out how to capture this Clow Card."
George accelerated to the park below, placed Li Showan down, and then flew back into the sky. He resumed his playful chase with the thunder beast.
"Li-kun, what are you doing here?"
Down below, Sakura and Tomoyo, seeing Li Showan in front of them, came out from under the penguin slide.
"You two are here too? Didn't you notice something strange about the weather today? It's a Clow Card causing this!"
Li Showan took out the jade orb and transformed it into a sword, pointing it at the thunder beast above that was playfully chasing George.
"It really is a Clow Card!"
Hearing this, Sakura immediately took out her Bird Head Key.
"A key imbued with dark powers, show your true strength! According to the contract, Sakura commands you—release the seal!"
The Bird Head Key transformed into a bird-headed staff, just like it had the night before.
"Do you have the Fly Card among the ones you've captured?"
Li Showan furrowed his brow and asked Sakura.
The Ancestor and the thunder beast were up in the clouds, but since he couldn't fly, there was no way for him to help from up there.
Though he wasn't thrilled about it, he had to ask Sakura, as he remembered that one of the Clow Cards was capable of flight.
"Yeah, my second card was the Fly Card."
Sakura nodded quickly, pulling out the Fly Card.
"Tomoyo, wait for me down here."
After giving Tomoyo a quick nod, she gently tapped the Fly Card with her bird-headed staff. The staff immediately sprouted a pair of large, pure white wings.
"Come on, let's go!"
"Alright, thanks!"
Li Showan, seeing Sakura riding her staff, felt his face redden slightly before climbing onto the staff as well.
However, he didn't put his arms around her waist. Instead, he held onto the staff with one hand to steady himself.
"It's such a shame we didn't bring a camera or wear the right clothes."
Tomoyo, seeing Sakura fly up with Li Showan riding the staff, showed a slight look of regret on her face.
"Here they come."
Up in the sky, George noticed that Showan and Sakura were flying up on the Bird Head Staff. He stopped dodging the lightning bolts from the thunder beast, instead waving his hand to deflect them.
The bolts were aimed directly at where Sakura and Showan were, but George calculated them perfectly, making sure they wouldn't hit them. His main goal was simply to scare them.
(End of Chapter)